Policy & Compliance
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March 11, 2025
FTC Merger Suit, Hospital DEI Probe And Qui Tam At 11th Circ.
The Federal Trade Commission initiated its first merger challenge since the start of President Donald Trump's current term, arguing that a private equity firm's plans to buy a medical device company would lead to an unlawful level of market concentration.
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March 11, 2025
'Paucity' Of Proof Thwarts NC State Law Claims In Gardasil MDL
A North Carolina federal judge has found that Merck did not violate state law by not including warnings about its Human Papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil, saying there was a "paucity" of evidence that the vaccines cause certain injuries to recipients.
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March 11, 2025
Conversion Therapy Ban At High Court: 5 Cases To Know
The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear a First Amendment challenge to a Colorado ban on mental health professionals using "conversion" therapy intended to help change minors' gender identity or sexual orientation.
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March 11, 2025
Zydus Cuts Deal With States, Tribes In Opioid Nuisance Suit
Zydus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has reached a deal in principle with states and Native American tribes that should quash claims related to the company's alleged role in exasperating the opioid crisis.
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March 11, 2025
Hospital Orgs. Say MultiPlan Must Not Duck Price-Fix Claims
Hundreds of American hospitals are "on the brink of collapse" and letting MultiPlan and a host of insurers who have been accused of conspiring to underpay out-of-network providers off the hook will not improve matters, two groups that represent thousands of hospitals have told the court.
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March 11, 2025
Alaska's RICO Claims Advance Against PBM In Opioid Suit
An Alaska federal judge has allowed most of the state's Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act claims to move forward against pharmacy benefits manager Express Scripts for its alleged role in the opioid epidemic.
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March 11, 2025
Feds Turn To FCA As Enforcement Weapon In Opioid Crisis
Federal prosecutors are expanding their use of the False Claims Act to target pharmacies accused of contributing to the opioid crisis, a legal strategy that exposes the defendants to hefty penalties.
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March 11, 2025
Trump Admin Drops Suit Over COVID Nasal Spray Ads Claims
The U.S. Department of Justice quietly moved Monday to drop a Utah federal court lawsuit filed on behalf of the Federal Trade Commission accusing a sinus nasal spray company of falsely claiming its products could help prevent and treat COVID-19.
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March 11, 2025
CEO, Staff Charged After Fatal Oxygen Chamber Explosion
Three people, including the CEO of a treatment center, have been charged with murder in connection with a hyperbaric oxygen chamber explosion that killed a 5-year-old boy, Michigan's attorney general announced Tuesday.
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March 11, 2025
Advocates Fear Abortion Drug U-Turn Under FDA Nominee
Ahead of a key Senate confirmation vote on Thursday, abortion rights advocates are sounding alarms about Marty Makary and indications that he may roll back expanded access to abortion medications as commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
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March 10, 2025
Justices Seen Resolving Circuit Split Over Med Mal Law
The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will decide whether a Delaware medical malpractice statute requiring an expert affidavit can apply in federal court, which experts said will give the justices the opportunity to reassess the so-called Erie doctrine and the relationship between state and federal courts.
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March 10, 2025
11th Circ. Urged To Find Qui Tam Cases Unconstitutional
A group of defendants accused of Medicare Advantage fraud urged the Eleventh Circuit on Monday to uphold a decision finding the False Claims Act's whistleblower provision unconstitutional, saying the statutory clause violates the Constitution in multiple ways.
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March 10, 2025
Medtronic Compliance Officer's Journey To State Senate Seat
A Medtronic compliance officer is taking on a role making different kinds of policies at the Minnesota State Capitol, following his successful bid for a state senate seat in late January. He told Law360 his compliance background is a natural fit for his new role in the public sector.
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March 10, 2025
Ga. Health System Says 'Vague,' 'Disorganized' Bias Suit Fails
A Georgia urologists' practice group on Monday hit back at a civil rights lawsuit from three doctors who said they were the victims of anti-Indian discrimination, arguing that their "shoot first and aim later" complaint fails to tie the company at all to their allegations.
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March 10, 2025
CVS PBM Caused Up To $330M In Part D Damages, Judge Told
A CVS-owned pharmacy benefits manager caused anywhere from $240 million to $330 million in damages by overbilling the government for Medicare Part D sponsored drugs, counsel for a whistleblower told a Pennsylvania federal judge at the beginning of a False Claims Act bench trial on Monday.
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March 10, 2025
AFL-CIO, Unions Defend Fight Against DOGE Access
The AFL-CIO and a group of unions sought to keep alive their claims that Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency can't legally access data from the U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies, telling a D.C. federal judge they have standing to file their suit.
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March 10, 2025
DOJ Defends Musk's Influence Against States' Challenge
The U.S. Department of Justice is defending Elon Musk's influence in the federal government against a constitutional challenge brought by 14 states, telling D.C. federal court that the "special government employee" does not occupy an official office that would be subject to the Constitution's appointments clause.
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March 10, 2025
High Court Will Review Colo.'s Conversion Therapy Ban
The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday that it will review a challenge to Colorado's ban on licensed therapists providing conversion therapy to transgender minors, in a case that asks whether the state's law is a permissible regulation of professional conduct or an unconstitutional restriction of speech.
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March 10, 2025
Ex-Magellan CEO Pleads Guilty Over Faulty Lead Tests
The former CEO of Magellan Diagnostics Inc. admitted Monday to selling faulty devices that tested blood lead levels, the final of three defendants to plead guilty ahead of a jury trial scheduled for April.
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March 10, 2025
Justices To Weigh If Del. Expert Law Applies In Federal Court
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether federal courts must apply a Delaware state law requiring an expert affidavit for all medical malpractice complaints.
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March 07, 2025
AGs Say Anti-Trans Admin Puts $367M Hospital Grants At Risk
Attorneys general from Washington and three other states told a federal court that the Trump administration has canceled thousands of dollars in grant funding for gender-affirming care — and threatened to strip up to nearly $370 million more — in violation of court injunctions.
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March 07, 2025
Hints Of A New High Court Majority Emerge In Trump Cases
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of President Donald Trump's bid to keep frozen nearly $2 billion in foreign aid funding gave court watchers a glimpse of a coalition majority that could end up thwarting some of the president's more aggressive and novel attempts to expand executive power.
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March 07, 2025
New Bellwethers Score Cert. In Generic Drug Price-Fixing MDL
The Pennsylvania federal court overseeing sprawling multidistrict litigation springing from claims that pharmaceutical giants worked together to hike the cost of off-brand drugs has certified several sets of classes for the cases for the MDL's latest bellwethers.
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March 06, 2025
FTC Challenges PE Firm's Medical Device Coatings Deal
The Federal Trade Commission moved Thursday to block private equity firm GTCR BC Holdings LLC's planned $627 million acquisition of Surmodics Inc. over concerns about competition for medical device coatings.
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March 06, 2025
9th Circ. Nixes Challenge To Wash. Abortion Coverage Law
A split Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday rejected a Christian church's challenge to a Washington state law requiring employer health plans to cover abortion services, saying the church could invoke its religious beliefs to skirt the challenged obligations.

HHS Comment Reversal Sets Stage For Quick Policy Changes
The sudden reversal at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of a longstanding commitment to robust public engagement clears the way for fast-paced changes to Medicaid and other massive programs, putting more pressure on compliance officers and sending more lobbying work behind closed doors.

HHS Cuts Hit Attys Tackling Medicare Appeals Backlog
The Department of Health and Human Services is terminating more than a dozen attorneys charged with reducing a massive backlog of Medicare appeals at an internal administrative board. The cuts may slow an already cumbersome administrative process.

CDC Layoffs Provoke Legal Questions, Worker Anxiety
Workers and experts with insight into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have described the roughly 750 layoffs at the agency as chaotic and confusing, and question Trump's legal authority to unilaterally change the agency. They are also concerned it will impact the agency’s ability to investigate disease outbreaks.
Expert Analysis
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6 Laws Transforming Calif.'s Health Regulatory Framework
Attorneys at Hooper Lundy discuss a number of new California laws that raise pressing issues for independent physicians and small practice groups, ranging from the use of artificial intelligence to wage standards for healthcare employees.
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Anticipating Calif. Oversight Of PE Participation In Healthcare
A new bill recently introduced in the California Senate revives last year's attempt to increase oversight of healthcare transactions involving private equity groups and hedge funds, meaning that attorneys may soon need to assess the compliance status of existing management relationships and consider modifying contract terms, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.
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Considering The Future Of AI Regulation On Health Sector
As Texas looks to become the next state to pass a comprehensive law regulating artificial intelligence, the healthcare industry should consider how AI regulation will continue to evolve in the U.S. and how industry members can keep up with compliance considerations, say attorneys at Kirkland & Ellis.
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What To Expect From 'Make America Healthy Again' Actions
The Make America Healthy Again Commission recently established by President Donald Trump and chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will potentially bring energy and attention to important public health topics, and stakeholders should be aware of pathways for sharing their input and proactively informing proceedings, says Nicholas Manetto at Faegre Drinker.
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How Citizen Petitions Have Affected Drug Competition
In light of recent citizen petitions and proposed legislation regulating such petitions, Omar Robles at Managing Health analyzes the statistics of the extent to which citizen petitions have been filed, and to what extent they have delayed competition in prescription pharmaceuticals.
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Drug Kickback Ruling Will Make FCA Liability Harder To Prove
The First Circuit's ruling in U.S. v. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, requiring the government to prove but-for causation to establish False Claims Act liability based on violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, raises the bar for FCA enforcement and deepens a circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court may need to resolve, say attorneys at Baker Donelson.
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Assessing PE Risk After Mass. False Claims Act Amendments
A law recently passed in Massachusetts amends the commonwealth's False Claims Act by dramatically expanding potential liability for private equity firms and investors, underscoring the importance of robust diligence and risk assessments for private equity firms conducting transactions in the commonwealth, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
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What Trump Actions Mean For Federal Research Funding
New guidance from the National Institutes of Health represents a massive policy shift regarding federal funding for researchers at institutions of higher education, contributing to a perfect storm of significant resource shortfalls in upcoming years, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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A Look At Healthcare Transaction Oversight In Oregon
Understanding Oregon's enforcement authority and its impact on proposed transactions last year provides a road map to the state's plans to strengthen its processes this year, though enforcement could be challenged by ongoing litigation, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Rethinking 'No Comment' For Clients Facing Public Crises
“No comment” is no longer a cost-free or even a viable public communications strategy for companies in crisis, and counsel must tailor their guidance based on a variety of competing factors to help clients emerge successfully, says Robert Bowers at Moore & Van Allen.
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High Court Must Acknowledge US History Of Anti-Trans Laws
Despite Justice Amy Coney Barrett's claim to the contrary during oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti, U.S. governments at every level have systematically discriminated against transgender people, and the U.S. Supreme Court must consider this historical context in upcoming cases about transgender issues, says Paisley Currah at the City University of New York.
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The Fate Of Biden-Era Clinical Study Guidance Under Trump
Draft guidance about the study of sex and gender differences in medical product development issued by the outgoing Biden administration currently faces significant uncertainty and litigation potential due to the Trump administration's executive orders and other actions, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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10 Issues To Watch In Aerospace And Defense Contracting
This year, in addition to evergreen developments driven by national security priorities, disruptive new technologies and competition with rival powers, federal contractors will see significant disruptions driven by the new administration’s efforts to reduce government spending, regulation and the size of the federal workforce, say attorneys at Thompson Hine.